Medical Tourism City

What are the lead generating processes and fees in the medical tourism industry?

Who are the leading lead generating companies servicing the industry? Who is paying for leads? What's the going rate in return for what outcome?

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Permalink Reply by Ilene Little on January 23, 2010 at 4:01pm

You're right, there is a vacuum of good information in this industry that's neither salesy nor hype. I appreciate your response. So you're practicing in the US? I have not found a US physician willing to educate patients on medical tourism.

A story line I would like to pursue for an article and podcast would be an article featuring a US physician who has working relationships with physicians/medical institutions abroad to whom he refers patients and who refer patients to him. Do you have such relationships; perhaps where doctors do the follow-up care for one another's patients?

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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on January 23, 2010 at 8:15pm

Ilene
As a practicing radiologist I do not directly refer or see patients in the clinic. However having lived in other countries and witnessing the high quality of care in many institutions around the world, I have an interest in promoting good quality information on the subject. I am not affiliated with any physician,hospital or medical facilitator. I am purely interested in bringing quality information on the subject to patients and consumers who seek it.

Having said that, if I do come across such a physician I will forward them to you. :)
Faisal

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Permalink Reply by Ilene Little on January 23, 2010 at 4:09pm

Thank you for your feedback on lead generating. Direct contact to a subscriber will be permission based controlled by the subscriber. So the way it works is that when a provider responds to a lead for a nominal fee (<$10), they will be able to give a free-text response and that response will show up on a list of responses that a subscriber uses to further reserach the provider (using our website tools).

The website tools at the disposal of a subscriber/patient will include a search of provider profiles who responded to the lead, along with member ratings and any articles that have been written about or by the provider.

That way, providers who will make themselves accessible to subcribers and serve our members well will have access to a loyal client base. Subscribers will also have the choice to search our entier data base of providers - which will be open source. So, again, contact will be initiated by the subscriber. In this case there is no lead generating fee.

I will be reaching out to providers, in the next couple of days, with a link where someone like you (and hopefully you) can register on our traveling4health blog and post articles, pending approval, to the site. Submitting articles is one way a provider has to distinguish themselves as the go-to-person for any consumer and/or T4H member searching for information about the provider's area of expertise.

There is a description and registration link on this blog http://blogs.traveling4health.com/babyboomer-lifestyle/build-your-r... which, although, focused on subscribers details the same registration process.

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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on January 25, 2010 at 3:43pm

Ilene
sure sounds great
Faisal

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Permalink Reply by Dr Saurabh Kumar on January 29, 2010 at 10:17am

Dear Ilene
Great to know about your lead generating venture for Medical tourism industry. We had tried one of the lead generators in Medical tourism industry, the cost depended on the procedure cost for cardiac, ortho etc was higher and lower for cosmetic, dental etc. Although we received inquiries for our allotted budget but the main concern was the authenticity of the inquiries generated and second concern was the low conversion rate to successful patient. It would be great if your process can add an element of authenticity either providing authentic e-mail addresses or phone numbers. Last but not least it would be preferable to keep the cost of Leads uniform and linking the payment to the successful lead

Regards
Dr Saurabh Kumar

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Permalink Reply by Ilene Little on January 29, 2010 at 3:00pm

Thanks for your thoughtful feedback, Dr. Kumar,

We have solutions for the three barriers you mention to successful lead generation:

1. Authenticity of the inquiries. I’ve had my own experiences with lead generating companies and it is very frustrating and costly in terms of time to deal with identifying and getting credit for bogus leads. Here’s a couple of ways we approach that challenge:
a. People who post inquiries have to register as members (free) so there are no anonymous nor blind posts allowed. Once contact is initiated by the member, providers have access to the members profile and all contact information.
b. Obviously we still allow providers to challenge a lead and be given credit.
2. Low conversion rate:
a. Our leads are qualified because:
i. People search out our website because they are interested in medical tourism and want to read consumer reviews of their experiences and learn which providers people trust.
ii. People who take the time to post a request for a quote or information are hot leads.
iii. The request submittal process encourages consumers to enter free text and suggests: “Please provide enough detail in your request to assist the providers in understanding your need as much as possible. This will save you and the providers time exchanging Q&A’s.” We also ask qualifying questions/text boxes:
1. When do you want to go, and
2. Do you have a budget.
iv. We realize that low conversion rates can be hugely influenced by the time it takes for a provider to get back to the subscriber and, in fact, depends largely on how accessible a provider is to the subscriber. This seems to be a problem for individual providers. In fact, for the reason, we encourage individual providers who do not have a case management system in place to work with a facilitator.
3. Uniform cost of leads: Our cost will be uniform and less than $10 for responding to a request, plus 1% of the cost of consummated procedure.

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